{"id":424,"date":"2026-07-01T19:16:39","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T19:16:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/officemovingamerica.com\/?p=424"},"modified":"2026-07-01T19:16:39","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T19:16:39","slug":"can-police-access-your-phones-location-data-heres-what-the-supreme-court-said","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/officemovingamerica.com\/?p=424","title":{"rendered":"Can Police Access Your Phone’s Location Data? Here’s What the Supreme Court Said"},"content":{"rendered":"
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As an adult living in 2026, you\u2019ve almost certainly been complicit in the modern surveillance state simply by using a smartphone. Whether you read the fine print or not, you\u2019ve probably agreed to share personal data \u2013 from your number of daily steps to where you shop \u2013 with the apps you use.<\/p>\n

Read more Supreme Court Upholds Birthright Citizenship in Major Blow to Trump<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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On Monday, the Supreme Court effectively said the government cannot get around Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches by going to those tech companies for the data of anyone near a crime scene at a given time.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cA cell-phone user is not to be viewed as sharing private information with third parties \u2013 which then can be freely passed on to the government \u2013 just by doing the ordinary things cell-phone users do,\u201d Justice Elena Kagan for the 6-3 majority.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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At issue is the law enforcement tactic known as \u201cgeofencing,\u201d in which the authorities draw a virtual fence around a crime scene and seek a warrant to compel tech companies, like Google, to identify who was in that area during a specified time period.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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It\u2019s been used in some high-profile cases, including efforts to prosecute rioters at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Authorities contended<\/u> that anyone other than lawmakers, staff and journalists inside the building between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. on that day was probably trespassing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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How decisive a blow the ruling might prove to be against this approach remains to be seen. A divided lower court had let authorities use the data in this case under a \u201cgood-faith exception\u201d \u2013 meaning law enforcement acted with the presumption that the geofencing warrant was valid.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The high court found \u201can individual has a reasonable expectation of privacy in records about his cell phone\u2019s location, and police intrude on that constitutionally protected interest when they demand the information.\u201d But it left lower courts to determine whether the warrant was valid.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The Underlying Case<\/b><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n
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In May 2019, a robber brandishing a firearm held up a credit union on the outskirts of Richmond, Virginia. From witnesses and surveillance footage, the police learned that the individual had approached his target from a nearby church while appearing to talk on a cell phone.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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He made off with nearly $200,000. When the trail ran cold, police asked a magistrate for a geofence warrant to make Google turn over data about cell phones located within a 150-meter radius of the credit union near the time of the robbery.<\/p>\n

Read more Gambling Disorders Spike Where Betting Is Legal<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Google ultimately produced three cell-phone users\u2019 identifying information, including from Okello Chatrie, \u201cwhose location data showed that he entered the geofence about 10 minutes before the robbery and headed toward a residential area immediately after leaving,\u201d the court said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Police searched Chatrie\u2019s home and found money and a firearm matching one used in the crime. He later confessed and was convicted, but on appeal he sought to have the evidence obtained via the geofencing warrant dismissed, that the writ let the government \u201csearch first and develop suspicions later.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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His lawyers also said the geofencing warrant swept up the location data of millions of Google users \u2013 people who did not meet the traditional standard of probable cause.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The authorities that he had no reasonable expectation of privacy because use of Google\u2019s location history function was voluntary. The Supreme Court called that argument \u201cmeritless\u201d and said the geofencing warrant counted as a \u201csearch\u201d subject to constitutional limits.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In a previous case, focused on the use of GPS surveillance, Justice Sonia Sotomayor underlined<\/u> how \u201ceven short-term monitoring\u201d of location information can provide \u201ca wealth of detail about familial, political, professional, religious and sexual associations.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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This could include \u201ctrips to the psychiatrist, the plastic surgeon, the abortion clinic, the AIDS treatment center, the strip club, the criminal defense attorney, the by-the-hour motel, the union meeting, the mosque, synagogue or church, the gay bar and on and on,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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We trade our location data for the convenience of maps, weather and instant connectivity \u2013 and sign off via user agreements barely anyone has actually read. This ruling says that language doesn\u2019t (entirely) trump constitutional protections.<\/p>\n

Read more Former NBA Players Malik Beasley, Ed Davis Indicted on Gambling-Related Charges<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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But you still might want to review your phone settings<\/u>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The high court rejected police use of cell phone location data to hunt down bad guys.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":423,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[202,201,8,200,199],"class_list":["post-424","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national-news","tag-constitution","tag-privacy","tag-sign-in-to-manage-your-newsletters","tag-smartphones","tag-supreme-court"],"yoast_head":"\nCan Police Access Your Phone's Location Data? 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